In

ceased in the Middle Ages; on the contrary, in some particulars, a still closer union was effected. As the Roman collegia held their meetings with closed doors, nothing was more natural than that they should become, in times of violent political agitation, the place of political parties and religious mysteries, secret worship, and doctrines of all sorts. The Roman emperors of the first centuries limited. the collegia as much as possible, but the latter governments favored them so much the more. the corpus jurio are contained several lists of the mechanic arts, legally existing and free from taxation, in the third and fourth centuries, among which we find those of architects, ship-builders, machinebuilders, builders of ballista, painters, sculptors, workers in marble, masons, stone-cutters, carpenters, &c. There was no town at all important, no province ever so distant, where some of the collegia, just mentioned, did not exist, to the downfall of the western and eastern empires, with their peculiar constitutions, and having more or less of a political and a religious character. The corporations of artificers, whose occupations were connected with architecture, were called upon by imperial orders to come from all parts of the empire, to assist in the building of large cities, palaces, churches, &c. Similar artificers also accompanied each Roman legion. Such corporations also existed in Britain— where the Romans, during their conquests, built a

great deal-both in the legions there stationed and in the cities. The same was the case in Spain, France, on the Rhine, and on the Danube. It is true that these collegia vanished in Britain, with most of their works, when the Picts, Scots, and Saxons, devastated the country; but in France, Spain, Italy, and in the Greek empire, they continued to flourish, and from these countries the Christian Saxon rulers of Britain, particularly Alfred and Athelstan, induced a number of artificers and architects to come to England, in order to build their castles, churches, and convents. Although these foreign artists, and the few who had survived the ravages of the barbarous tribes, were Christians, and though most of their leaders were clergymen, yet the corporations which they formed had no other constitutions than those transmitted to them from the Roman colleges, which were spread over all Christian Europe, and the character of which is still to be learned from the corpus juris Romani. As the members of these corporations of architects of the tenth century belonged to different nations, and at the same time publicly or secretly to sects, widely differing in their tenets, and often condemned as heretical; in short, as they were very different in faith, customs, and manner of living, they could not be induced to go to England,

* Vide Histoire du Grand Orient de France. Paris, 1812: also, Thory's Acta Latomorum. Paris, 1815.

and to remain there, without receiving from the pope and king satisfactory liberties and letters of protection, especially jurisdiction over their own. bodies, and the right of settling their own wages. They then united, under written constitutions, founded upon the ancient constitution of the Roman and Greek colleges, and the provisions of the civil law. The different tenets of the members, the scientific occupation and elevated views of their leading architects and clergymen, naturally gave rise to a more liberal spirit of toleration, a purer view of religion, and stricter morals, than were common in those times of civil feud and religious persecution.

The lofty notions of Vitruvius (their constant manual) in regard to the dignity of an architect, may have contributed to ennoble their character. Their religious tenets being often subjects of suspicion to the orthodox, they were obliged to keep them secret. Secrecy, moreover, was the character of all the corporations of the Middle Ages, and, down to the most recent times, the corporations of mechanics on the continent had what they called secrets of the craft-certain words, or sometimes impressive ceremonies, by which they were enabled to recognise each other. To this we must add, that the corporations of architects in the Middle Ages were descended from the times of antiquity; so that their societies had received, in the times when

Rome adored all gods, and listened to all philosophical systems, impressions derived from the Greek philosophical schools, particularly the Stoic, united with some fragments of the Greek and Egyptian mysteries, and subsequently modified by notions. acquired in the early times of Christianity, particularly from the Gnostics, which led to certain doctrines and sacred ceremonies, clothed, according to the spirit of the time, in symbols, and constituting their esoteric mysteries.* The watchful eye of the popes induced them to keep these doctrines closely concealed, in connection with the real secrets of their art, and its subsidiary branches, their rude chemistry, their metallurgy, and natural philosophy, and to preserve their knowledge in forms otherwise foreign to it, if they wished to escape persecution.

The great importance which architecture assumed in those times is to be accounted for from the enthusiasm for splendid houses of worship, in which the religious spirit of those times displayed itself to an unparalleled degree.

The history of these corporations, as here given, and their connection with the present society of Freemasons, appears, from what we know of antiquity-from the history of England, and from the agreement of the constitutions, symbols, and cus

* Lenning: Frei-Maurer Encyclopädie (Leipsic, 1822); et Sarsena, Oder der Vollkommene Baumeister.

toms of the present Freemasons with those of the above corporations.*

The architects, with their assistants and pupils, formed associations called hutten, or lodges. At an assembly held at Ratisbon, in 1459, it was agreed that a Grand Lodge should be formed at Strasburg, as the place of general assembly, and that the architect of that cathedral, for the time being, should be the Grand Master. The society was composed of masters, companions, and apprentices, who had a secret word, with signs of recognition. In 1464 and 1469 there were general assemblies at Strasburg; but they were afterward neglected for some time, until the Emperor Maximilian I., being at that city in 1498, granted them certain privileges, by charter or diploma, which were renewed and confirmed by subsequent emperors. These diplomas, together with the regulations and statutes, were kept in the house of the architect of the cathedral, in a chest with triple locks, of which the two oldest masons kept the keys, so that it required the presence of all before the chest could be opened. These documents were in existence until the French Revolution, when they were destroyed, with many other papers, to prevent their falling into the hands of the Jacobinic commissioners. Their rules inculcated the necessity of leading moral lives; submission to the masters, whom the companions served

* Vide Conversations Lexicon (German), Art. Frei-Maurer.